Democracy’s Disappearance

Teagle grantee and Director of the Core Curriculum at Columbia University, Roosevelt Montas, reflects on the importance of promoting understanding of democratic principles.

"Academe has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to influence the political culture in a way that no other institution can. The crucial contribution we can make is to introduce students to the texts, ideas, and norms of deliberative argumentation that gave rise to liberal-democratic politics in the first place. For a long time now, universities have largely failed to make this contribution. Instead, too many institutions offer incoherent curricula that leave students ill-informed about the underlying premises of our political order and ill-equipped to participate in the task of self-governance."